Harding



(No Model.)

0. H. WINTER.

INSTEB PAD FOR SHOES.

No. 374,106; Patented Nov. 29, 1887.

Witwaooeo UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CAROLINE HARDING WINTER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AS- SIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO SARAH C. JOHNSON, OF SAME PLACE.

lNS TEP-PAD FOR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,106, dated November 29, 1887.

Application filed July 30, 1837. Serial No. 245.702. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CAROLINE HARDING WINTER, a resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Instep-Pads for Shoes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a view of a foot or last having a shoe fitted upon it with my improved insteppad, showing the said pad in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view'of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the instep, taken on line w at, Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a View of the pad.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention has relation to pads for filling up the space between the instep and the upper of the shoe in shoes which are made too wide over the instep; and it consists in the improved construction of a pad made of absorbent material, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the upper of the shoe. 2 is the flap, which is formed with the usual buttonholes, 3, engaging the buttons 4 in the usual manner, the drawings showing a button-shoe, although the pad may be used with boots and shoes of any desired construction.

The pad 5 is formed with a convex upper side, 6, corresponding in its curve to the curve of the normal instep of the human foot, and with a concave under side, 7, which may fit snugly and comfortably over the instep of the foot of the person using the pad.

The pad is formed by a piece of sponge or similar elastic and absorbent material cut and trimmedto the proper shape, and it will be seen that by employing an elastic and absorbent material-as sponge, which material I preferthe pad cannot injure the instep, which is very tender and susceptible to injury by pressure, and at the same time the pad may absorb all moisture either penetrating through the shoe or generated by the evaporations from the foot, and have the said moisture easily removed by drying, on account of its being made of sponge.

The pad may also easily be washed and cleaned if it becomes soiled, as it maysimply be immersed in water, or water combined with some cleaning material, when by compressing the pad and allowing it to again swell up it may be thoroughly rinsed and cleaned, whereupon it may be dried.

I am aware that it is not new to use pads for filling up spaces in the shoe over the instep or at other places, and I do not desire to make any broad claims for such pads; but the said pads have been made of some elastic Inaterialsuch as hair or. similar materialcovered with some textile material, and were therefore not as easily cleaned as the pad made of one piece of sponge or other absorbent material, and, besides, they do not possess the absorbent quality ofmy pad, and they will be liable to injure the foot it the covering wears out and the edges of the worn hole or holes should curl up and form rolls or ridges; and

I therefore claim- As an improvement in instep pads for filling up shoes or boots across the instep, a pad made of one piece of sponge or other similar elastic and absorbent material out and trimmed to fit upon the instep and to fill up the space in the boot or shoe, as and for the purpose set forth.

Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereunto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CAROLINE HARDING WINTER.

Witnesses:

J OSEPH GREEN, THEo. H. MOGALLA. 

